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NFL notebook: Hall’s centennial snubs most painful of all

Former NFL wide receiver Drew Pearson speaks during the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium on April 26, 2018 in Arlington, Texas.Photo by Getty Images

The Pro Football Hall of Fame meant well, in expanding the number of inductees in 2020 — the NFL’s centennial year — to right some wrongs of the past.

But after announcing that list of 15 on Wednesday morning, all that became clear is that any hall of fame, no matter how much in earnest, can never right all those wrongs. There always will be someone left out who deserved to get in.

And for some of those passed over yet again, the pain of rejection this time was more acute than ever.

Video of his instantaneous reaction to being snubbed soon went viral on the interwebs.

Pearson, who turned 69 on Sunday, now is the only offensive player on the NFL’s official 1970s all-decade team who’s not in the Hall.

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“And they did it like this,” a visibly distraught Pearson said. “They strung it out like this … I’m sorry.”

The speedy, sure-handed Pearson was one of Roger Staubach’s go-to receivers on the Cowboys from 1973-78, then for several more seasons with Danny White.

What probably hurts his cause is he played mostly in the run-dominant ’70s, thus his receiving stats don’t impress as seen through a modern lens. Pearson caught 48 career touchdown passes and led the league in 1977 with 870 receiving yards.

I got to know one of them before he died in 2016: Albert (Ox) Wistert.

The under-sized tackle starred with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1943-51. He was named an all-pro in seven of those nine seasons, and was named to the NFL’s official 1940s all-decade team.

Before his pro career, Wistert starred at the University of Michigan. I interviewed “Wisty” several times over the years, for various Michigan-football history projects, including my book on the Michigan-Notre Dame football rivalry, Natural Enemies.

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Yes, he’s in the College Football Hall of Fame, and in the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame. And he had the No. 11 jersey retired that he and his two brothers each wore as All-Americans at Michigan.

But the one thing missing that Wistert coveted, he lamented to me more over the phone more than once, was being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Wistert was quite a character, as several of his Michigan teammates confirmed. And a tenacious tackle and great leader to boot.

I first spoke with Wistert in 2006, some 55 years after he’d played his last NFL game, and long after retiring from his successful post-NFL career of selling insurance. He was 85. The native Chicagoan was so proud to tell me he began each day by doing 50 sit-ups and 50 jumping jacks, before taking his dog on a long hike into the hills that surrounded his ranch in Grants Pass, Ore.

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As a tackle in college and especially in the NFL, Wistert was undersized. On the Eagles he weighed only 215 pounds.

“It was always a problem,” he told me. “Each guy that I played against outweighed me by 40 or 50 pounds, and that was never easy … But I was fast as hell.

“I didn’t have a lot of injuries. I usually played 60 minutes and didn’t come out of the game. But I managed to survive it. I guess I was pretty tough.”

Iconic NFL head coach George Allen wrote in his book that Wistert was one of the top 10 defensive linemen ever to play in the NFL. And probably the top one yet to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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I suspect Wisty, like Pearson, would have been gut-punched by Wednesday’s news. So, as great a day as Wednesday was for all 15 of the worthy new inductees, spare a thought for those no less worthy, who lost the Hall’s latest numbers game and remain outside, looking in.

JACKSON MVP

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was named Wednesday as the regular-season NFL MVP and offensive player of the year by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).

New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore was named the league’s defensive player of the year.

Since the PFWA began handing out these awards in 1992, Gilmore is only the third corner — after Deion Sanders in 1994 and Charles Woodson in 2009 — to earn the latter honour.

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FITZ RETURNING

Future Hall of Fame wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is not retiring. The Arizona Cardinals announced he has signed a one-year contract. The 36-year-old has missed only two games (both in 2014) since 2007, and only five games in his 16-season career. He has been named to 11 Pro Bowls.

EXTRA POINTS

The New York Giants are interviewing fired Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett for their vacant offensive coordinator position … Referee Bill Vinovich will work Super Bowl LIV … Three underclassmen from LSU’s national champions have declared for the NFL Draft: WR Justin Jefferson, S Grant Delpit and LB Patrick Queen. NCAA underclassmen three years removed from high school have until Friday to turn pro.